The invention relates generally to power-driven conveyors and more particularly to modular articulated conveyor belts with attachments.
Conveyor belts are used to convey meat, poultry, or seafood carcasses on butchering lines. In some cases the carcasses are removed from the belt and butchered on separate cutting surfaces. Then the butchered pieces are placed back on the belt for further processing downstream. But transferring the carcasses between the belt and the cutting surface can result in dropped or damaged product and is heavy work for the butchers. Furthermore, the cutting surfaces take up plant space. In other cases the conveyor belt is made sturdy with a rigid flat top surface on which some butchering can be performed. But the force of chopping tends to reduce the useful life of the belt, and the scoring of the top surface by knife blades causes sanitation problems.